Cheap printer reccomendation?

I'm after a new printer to replace my worn-out Epson C62. The two main things I'm looking for are lowish purchase cost, and low running costs. The printer should be able to cope with the average office use - lots of black and white stuff - but also the occasional high-resolution photo images.

The printer I am considering is the Canon i350. Cost of about 70GBP, on which I can get a discount to make it about 50GBP. Cartridges are the BCI-24, compatibles of which are about 4GBP for both the black and colour. The alternative is something like the Epson C64 or so, for which I'd hope to find cartridges at about the same price as I currently pay for the ones for the C62 - 5GBP for either the colour or black.

The worry with the i350 is that apparently, as the ink is heated during the printing process, the print head will wear out faster. Is the print head user replacable, and if so how much would it cost to replace? What's the life span on it, too? And also, I'm guessing that the cartridges will be smaller from what I've seen - will I get through them a lot faster than I do with Epson cartridges?

Finally, are there any other printers out there that I should be looking at?

Do you have a supplier for Canon print heads? I couldn't find online. I work in a school and we go through ink like it was water. Cheap Canon (or compatable) ink looks very attractive but we would need to be able to change the print heads due to our hight use.

After I'd bought my Canoni850 I emailed Canon to ask the price/supplier of a new head. The evasive reply said I needn't worry about a new head because for 12 months it would be replaced free of charge.Help on this forum suggested it would be £48.

They bring out new models every 6 months and the old ones can often be picked up at half price

The print head is in the ink cartridge, and although I know the ink is not the cheapest the actual printers will go on for yonks without trouble and you can refill the black ink cartridges yourself for pennies and in the long run this does save hassle

So, as a quick summery: Canon print heads are replacable, cost is about half of the cost of the printer. Canon will cover the original for a year (?). Cartridges are dirt cheap.

A few questions remain from me:- Do Canon heat their ink?- Do the print heads wear out quicker than Epson's do?- How much ink is in the Canon cartridges, compared to Epson?

I used to have a Compaq (read: Lexmark) printer ages ago; used to refill that. It worked out to take too long refilling the cartridges, making sure they were giving out quality output, etc. than is reasonable. Bought an Epson, never looked back.

It looks like I'll be getting the Canon printer, then basically using it until the print head wears out, then reviewing my situation and buying a new printer. It's what I've done with the Epson one...